INTERNAL PROCESSES THAT SHAPE THE EARTH

INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH

➢ Earth’s Crust
o 2 different types of crust: thin oceanic crust that underlies the oceans basins and
thicker continental crust that underlies the continents
o The thin oceanic crust is composed of primarily of basalt and the thicker continental
crust is composed primarily of granite.
o Continental crust – thick (10-70km); buoyant; mostly old. Under some mountain
chains, crustal thickness is approximately twice that thickness (about 70 km thick).
o Oceanic crust – thin ( 7̴ km); dense; young
o The low density of the thick continental crust allows it to “float” in high relief on the
much higher density mantle below.

➢ Earth’s Mantle
o Thought to be composed mainly of olivine-rich rock.
o It has different temperatures at different depth
o The temperature is lowest immediately beneath the crust and increases with
depth
o The highest temperatures occur where the mantle material is in contact with the
heat-producing core.
o The steady increase of temperature with depth is known as the geothermal
gradient
o The geothermal gradient is responsible for different rock behaviors and the
different rock behaviors are used to divide the mantle into two different zones.
o Rocks in the upper mantle are cool and brittle, while rocks in the lower mantle
are hot and soft (but not molten)
o Rocks in the upper mantle are brittle enough to break under stress and produce
earthquakes. However, rocks in the lower mantle are soft and flow when
subjected to forces instead of breaking. The lower limit of brittle behavior is the
boundary between the upper and lower mantle.
➢ Earth’s Core
o thought to be composed mainly of an iron and nickel alloy.
o This composition is assumed based upon calculations of its density and upon the fact
that many meteorites (which are thought to be portions of the interior of a
planetary body) are iron-nickel alloys.
o The core is earth's source of internal heat because it contains radioactive materials
which release heat as they break down into more stable substances.
o The core is divided into two different zones. The outer core is a liquid because the
temperatures there are adequate to melt the iron-nickel alloy. However, the inner
core is a solid even though its temperature is higher than the outer core. Here,
tremendous pressure, produced by the weight of the overlying rocks is strong
enough to crowd the atoms tightly together and prevents the liquid state.
 ➢ How do we measure what the earth is made of?
o Geophysical survey: seismic, gravity, magnetics, electrical, geodesy
▪ Acquisition: land, air, sea and satellite. For example measuring different
gravity, magnetic and electrical anomalies by air and (or) satellite can help to
reconstruct shallow crustal features.
▪ We can also go and examine rocks at and near the surface of the crust,
through fieldwork, drilling boreholes and mining.

ENDOGENIC PROCESSES
➢ Are geological processes that occur beneath the surface of the Earth
➢ It is associated with energy originating in the interior of the solid earth
➢ The ground we live on is moving all the time.
➢ The forces within the earth that cause the ground to move are called ENDOGENIC FORCES.

How does endogenic process works?

➢ When the ground moves, rock layers at the surface of the earth are broken, twisted and
shaken
➢ Land is destroyed in many places and created in other places
➢ When the land is shaped by endogenic forces we call this ENDOGENIC PROCESSES

The main endogenic processes

➢ FOLDING and Faulting or TECTONIC MOVEMENTS
➢ They take place mainly along the plate boundaries, which are the zones that are not stable
➢ Endogenic processes cause many major landforms

Definition of terms:

Stress – pressure applied to a rock

• Compression – happens in convergent plate boundaries
• Tension – happens in divergent plate boundaries
• Shear – happens in transform fault boundaries
 Folding and Faulting of Rocks
Folding
➢ When two forces push towards each other form opposite sides, the rock layers will bend
into folds.
➢ The process by which fold are formed are due to compressional forces known as folding
➢ There are large scale and small-scale folds. Large-scale folds are found mainly along
destructive plate boundaries.
➢ Different folds
o Monoclince – simplest type of fold; involves a slight bend in otherwise parallel layers
of rock
BEND WITH HORIZONTAL ENDS

o Anticline – convex up fold in rock that resembles an arch like structure with the rock
beds (or limbs) dipping way from the center of the structure
UPWARD BEND

Anticline fold. Note how the rock layers dip away from the center of the fold are roughly
symmetrical.

o Syncline – a fold where the rock layers are warped downward. Both anticlines and
synclines are the result of compressional stress

DOWNWARD BEND
Syncline fold. Note how the rock layers dip toward the center of the fold and are roughly
symmetrical.

o More complex fold types can develop in situations where lateral pressures become
greater. The greater pressure results in anticlines and synclines that are inclined and
asymmetrical

The following illustration shows two anticline folds which are inclined. Also note how the
beds on either side of the fold center are asymmetrical.

o Recumbent fold - develops if the center of the fold moves from being once vertical
to a horizontal position. Recumbent folds are commonly found in the core of
mountain ranges and indicate that compression and/or shear forces were stronger
in one direction. Extreme stress and pressure can sometimes cause the rocks to
shear along a plane of weakness creating a fault. We call the combination of
a fault and a fold in a rock an overthrust fault.
Faulting
➢ Faulting is the fracturing and displacement of more brittle rock strata along a fault plane
either caused by tension or compression
➢ A break in rock along which vertical or horizontal rock movement has occurred is called a
fault.
➢ The process of forming a fault is faulting
➢ The line of fault which appears on land surface is known as fault line
➢ These lines are often lines of weakness which allow molten rock to rise up onto the earth
surface when there is active volcanic activity nearby.
➢ Kinds of fault
o Normal fault - occur when tensional forces act in opposite directions
and cause one slab of the rock to be displaced up and the other slab
down

HANGING WALL: THE LAYERS OF ROCK ABOVE THE FAULT LINE

FOOT WALL: TH ELAYERS OF ROCK BELOW THE FAULT LINE
o Reverse fault– develop when compressional forces exist. Compression causes one
block to be pushed up and over the other block.

o Graben fault – is produced when tensional stress result in the subsidence of a block
of rock. On a large scale these features are known as rift valeys.

o Horst fault – is the development of two reverse faults causing a block of rock to be
pushed up

o Strike-slip or transform fault – these faults are vertical in nature and are produced
where the stresses are exerted parallel to each other. A well-known example of this
type of fault is the San Andreas fault in California
 ➢ Faulting forms 2 major landforms – block mountain and rift valleys.
PLATE TECTONICS
➢ There are 12 major plates on Earth, each of which slide around at a rate of centimetres per
year, pulling away from, scraping against or crashing into each other.
➢ Each type of interaction produces a characteristic “tectonic feature”, like mountain ranges,
volcanoes and (or) rift valleys
➢ The word, tectonic, refers to the deformation of the crust as a consequence of plate
interaction.
➢ What are plates made of?
o Plates are made of rigid lithosphere – formed of the crust and the extreme
upper mantle
➢ What lies beneath the tectonic plates?
o The asthenosphere, beneath the lithosphere, is part of the upper mantle and is
so hot that it is 1 – 5% liquid (I.e. 95 – 99% solid). This liquid, usually at the
junctions of the crystals, allow it to flow – which is why ‘astheno’ means weak.’
Beneath the asthenosphere is the rest of the mantle, which is completely solid –
but can also flow (on geological time scales) because of the intense
temperatures and pressures involved.
o The base of the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary corresponds
approximately to the depth of the melting temperature in the mantle.
➢ How and Why do tectonic Plates move around?
o “Plates” of lithosphere are moved around by the underlying hot mantle
convection cells
o In the mantle hot material rises towards the lithosphere (like hot air rising out of
an open oven - ever opened an oven door and felt the blast of hot air coming
past your face?). The hot material reaches the base of the lithosphere where it
cools and sinks back down through the mantle. The cool material is replaced by
more hot material, and so on forming a large “convection cell” (as pictured in
the diagram).
o This slow but incessant movement in the mantle causes the rigid tectonic plates
to move (float) around the earth surface (at an equally slow rate).
 ➢ 3 types of plate boundary
o Divergent boundaries are where plates move away from each other TENSION
COMPRESSION o Convergent boundaries are where the plates move towards each other
o Transform boundaries are where the plates slide past each other. SHEAR
➢ Divergent Boundaries
o is a linear feature that exists between two tectonic plates that are moving away
from each other. These areas can form in the middle of continents or on the
GRABEN FAULT
ocean floor.
AND HORST FAULT o As the plates pull apart, hot molten material can rise up this newly formed
pathway to the surface - causing volcanic activity.
o Where a divergent boundary forms on a continent it is called a RIFT or
CONTINENTAL RIFT, e.g. African Rift Valley.
o Where a divergent boundary forms under the ocean it is called an OCEAN
RIDGE. OCEAN BASIN

o ICELAND: An example of continental rifting. Iceland is located right on top of a

divergent boundary. In fact, the island exists because of this feature. As the
North American and Eurasian plates were pulled apart (see map) volcanic
activity occurred along the cracks and fissures (see photographs).
o With many eruptions over time the island grew out of the sea!
➢ Convergent Boundaries (DESTRUCTIVE PLATE MARGINS)
o There are three types of convergent boundary, each defined by what type of
crust (continental or oceanic) is coming together.
o Therefore we can have: continent-continent collision, continent-oceanic
crust collision or ocean-ocean collision
o CONTINENT-CONTINENT COLLISION - When continental crust pushes
against continental crust both sides of the convergent boundary have the
same properties (think back to the description of continental crust: thick and
buoyant). Neither side of the boundary wants to sink beneath the other
side, and as a result the two plates push against each other and the crust
buckles and cracks, pushing up (and down into the mantle) high mountain
ranges. For example, the European Alps and Himalayas formed this way.

o Example: India used to be an island, but about 15 million years ago it

crashed into Asia (see map). As continental crust was pushing against
continental crust the Himalayan mountain belt was pushed up. “Mountains”
were also pushed down into the mantle as the normally 35 km thick crust is
approximately 70 km thick in this region. Mt Everest is the highest altitude
mountain on our planet standing 8,840 metres high. This means that below
the surface at the foot of the mountain the crust is a further 61 km deep!!
o CONTINENT-OCEANIC CRUST COLLISION. At a convergent boundary where
continental crust pushes against oceanic crust, the oceanic crust which is
thinner and more dense than the continental crust, sinks below the
continental crust. This is called a Subduction Zone.
o The oceanic crust descends into the mantle at a rate of centimetres per
year. This oceanic crust is called the “Subducting Slab” (see diagram). When
the subducting slab reaches a depth of around 100 kilometres, it dehydrates
and releases water into the overlying mantle wedge
o The addition of water into the mantle wedge changes the melting point of
the molten material there forming new melt which rises up into the
overlying continental crust forming volcanoes.
o Subduction is a way of recycling the oceanic crust. Eventually the
subducting slab sinks down into the mantle to be recycled. It is for this
reason that the oceanic crust is much younger than the continental crust
which is not recycled.

o EXAMPLE: The Andes mountain range along the western edge of the South
American continent is an example of a mountain belt formed by subduction.
The continental crust of the South American plate has buckled under the
 compressional strain of converging with the Nasca and Antarctic plates.
Additionally there are many volcanoes, the result of melting of the
subducting slab and the production of new material that has risen through
the crust to the surface.
o OCEAN-OCEAN PLATE COLLISION. When two oceanic plates converge,
because they are dense, one runs over the top of the other causing it to sink
into the mantle and a subduction zone is formed.
o The subducting plate is bent down into the mantle to form a deep
depression in the seafloor called a trench.
FORMATIONS o Trenches are the deepest parts of the ocean and remain largely unexplored.
*RIFT VALLEY E.g. The Mariana Trench is 11 km deep!
*ISLAND ARC
*VOLCANIC ARC ➢ Transform Boundaries
o Where plates slide past each other
*MOUNTAIN BUILDING o The San Andreas fault, adjacent to which the US city of San Francisco is built
is an example of a transform boundary between the Pacific plate and the
North American plate.

This map summarises all the known plate boundaries on Earth, showing whether they are
divergent, convergent or transform boundaries.

Volcanoes and Plate Tectonics

➢ Volcanism is mostly focused at plate margins
➢ Pacific Ring of Fire
➢ Volcanoes can be forms in 3 ways
o Via subduction. The subducting slab dehydrates to form new melt that will rise
through the crust to be erupted at the surface.
o Via rifting. When two plates pull apart magma rises, producing volcanic eruptions
at the surface.
o At “Hotspots”….hotspot do not necessarily occur along a plate boundary. So
hotspot volcanoes can form in the middle of tectonic plates
➢ A hotspot is a location on the Earth's surface that has experienced active volcanism for a
long period of time. The source of this volcanism is a mantle plume of hot mantle material
rising up from near the core-mantle boundary through the crust to the surface . A mantle
plume may rise at any location in the mantle, and this is why hotspot volcanoes are
independent from tectonic plate boundaries. The Hawaiian island chain are an example of
hotspot volcanoes

➢ Hotspot’s commonly form volcanic island chains (like the Hawaiian islands). These result
from the slow movement of a tectonic plate over a FIXED hotspot.
➢ Persistent volcanic activity at a hotspot will create new islands as the plate moves the
position of the “old” volcanic island from over the hotspot.
➢ Therefore at one end of the island chain you see the youngest, most active volcanic
islands (directly over the hotspot) and along the island chain the extinct volcanoes become
older and more eroded (see diagram).
➢ This way geologists can use hotspot volcano chains to track the movement of the tectonic
plate through time.
➢ Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics
o As with volcanoes, earthquakes are not randomly distributed over the globe
o At the boundaries between plates, friction causes them to stick together. When
built up energy causes them to break, earthquakes occur.
o Depending on the type of movement, the earthquakes occur in either a shallow or
deep level in the crust.
o The majority of tectonic earthquakes originate at depths not exceeding tens of
kilometers.
o In subduction zones, where old and cold oceanic crust descends beneath another
tectonic plate, “Deep Focus Earthquakes” may occur at much greater depths (up to
seven hundred kilometers!).
o These earthquakes occur at a depth at which the subducted crust should no longer
be brittle, due to the high temperature and pressure. A possible mechanism for the
generation of deep focus earthquakes is faulting.
o Earthquakes may also occur in volcanic regions and are caused there both by
tectonic faults and by the movement of magma (hot molten rock) within the volcano.
Such earthquakes can be an early warning of volcanic eruptions.
Continental drift theory

Continental drift was a theory that explained how continents shift position on Earth's surface. Set
forth in 1912 by Alfred Wegener, a geophysicist and meteorologist, continental drift also explained
why look-alike animal and plant fossils, and similar rock formations, are found on different
continents.

Evidence of continental drift theory

Evidence for the movement of continents on tectonic plates is now extensive. Similar plant and
animal fossils are found around the shores of different continents, suggesting that they were once
joined. The fossils of Mesosaurus, a freshwater reptile rather like a small crocodile, found both
in Brazil and South Africa, are one example; another is the discovery of fossils of the
land reptile Lystrosaurus in rocks of the same age at locations in Africa, India,
and Antarctica.[67] There is also living evidence, with the same animals being found on two
continents. Some earthworm families (such as Ocnerodrilidae, Acanthodrilidae, Octochaetidae) are
found in South America and Africa.

The complementary arrangement of the facing sides of South America and Africa is obvious but a
temporary coincidence. In millions of years, slab pull, ridge-push, and other forces
of tectonophysics will further separate and rotate those two continents. It was that temporary
feature that inspired Wegener to study what he defined as continental drift although he did not live
to see his hypothesis generally accepted.

The widespread distribution of Permo-Carboniferous glacial sediments in South America, Africa,

Madagascar, Arabia, India, Antarctica and Australia was one of the major pieces of evidence for the
theory of continental drift. The continuity of glaciers, inferred from oriented glacial striations and
deposits called tillites, suggested the existence of the supercontinent of Gondwana, which became a
central element of the concept of continental drift. Striations indicated glacial flow away from the
equator and toward the poles, based on continents' current positions and orientations, and
supported the idea that the southern continents had previously been in dramatically different
locations that were contiguous with one another